Book Description

"Ethiopia is one of the world's largest recipients of international development aid, receiving more than US$3 billion in 2008. The government receives international plaudits for its progress on economic development, even as it has steadily suppressed all forms of independent criticism and political dissent. Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia describes how the Ethiopian government is using development aid as a tool of political repression by conditioning access to essential government services on support for the ruling party. The patterns of repression documented in the report were particularly pronounced in the run-up to Ethiopia's May 2010 parliamentary elections, in which the ruling party won 99.6 percent of the seats. Based on interviews with more than 200 people in 53 different villages across three regions of the country, the report shows how people perceived as opposition supporters are routinely barred from access to government services, including agricultural inputs like seeds and fertilizers, micro-credit loans, and job opportunities. The report also examines the use of donor-funded capacity-building programs to indoctrinate school children in party ideology, intimidate teachers, and purge the civil service of dissenters. Paradoxically, as Ethiopia's human rights situation has steadily declined, donors have simultaneously ramped up assistance. Between 2004 and 2008, the level of development aid to Ethiopia doubled. Human Rights Watch calls on donors to ensure that their aid is being used in an accountable and transparent manner, and urges national legislatures and audit institutions in donor countries to examine Ethiopia's use of development aid to undermine basic human rights."--Page 4 of cover.